7 Reasons to visit Friendswood Public Library’s Electronic Library

1.      Fix your car with Ebsco’s Auto Repair Reference Center. Follow the links to Repair Procedures, Service Bulletins and Recalls, Labor, Wiring Diagrams, and Maintenance Intervals.  From Electronic Library, click on Ebsco Host and supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Select Auto Repair Reference Center.

2.      Learn a language with Mango Languages. Choose from over 35 languages. From Electronic Library, click on Mango Languages. Supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Either click Start Learning and choose a language, or create a profile first to track your progress.

3.      Get specific drug information or other relevant health information with Consumer Health Complete. From Electronic Library, click on Texshare. Supply the login and password obtained from the Reference desk. Click on the Texshare link in the top right corner of the menu. Scroll down to Consumer Health Complete. Select drug and herb information. Type in the name of the drug or herb and click search.

4.      Get a Datamonitor Report for major companies with Business Source Complete. Find key employees, head office contact information, and a company overview among other vital business information. From Electronic Library, click on Ebsco Host and supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Select Business Searching Interface. Select Company Profiles and enter the company name.

5.      Read newspaper articles from around the world with Ebsco’s Newspaper Source. From Electronic Library, click on Ebsco Host and supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Select All Databases and scroll down to Newspaper Source. Select Title List to view an alphabetical list of all newspapers.

6.      Get help with your science experiment projects with Science Online. From Electronic Library, click on Science Online. Supply your 14 digit library barcode number. Enter your topic keywords and select from Topics, Terms, and Principles; Images, Videos, and Animations; Experiments & Activities; Biographies; News Articles, or view All Results.

7.      Download free ebooks, audiobooks, and video with Overdrive. From Electronic Library, select the Overdrive icon. Select the My Help icon to receive instructions on how to get started with Overdrive. Visit the Adult Programs Schedule link found from the library’s homepage for Overdrive instruction class times. Or contact the Friendswood Public Library at 281-482-7135 for additional help.

Electronic Library can be accessed from the Friendswood Public Library’s homepage at (www.friendswood.lib.tx.us). These databases provide thousands of articles of information on most any topic needed. For more information, visit the library’s Reference Department or call 281-482-7135.

A Wonderful Evening with NetPoSo!

A wonderful evening was had by those attending the Net Poets Society program. A hearty thanks goes out to John Milkereit (whose two chapbooks I have now read and admire) for hosting the program and allowing us a glimpse into the humor and often hilarity of his writing and reading style.  One audience member stated that she fought hard not to crack up but couldn’t help herself.  John’s chapbooks Home & Away and Paying Admissions should be available for library checkout very soon.  Great thanks also to Adamarie Fuller, Mona Follis, and Dede Fox. Dede is a fellow librarian and began the evening with a poem dedicated to libraries and librarianship. This poem certainly hit the mark with its clever references to Mr. Dewey’s decimal system.  All four poets read from their wonderful collections of award winning poetry and their dedication to the craft was evident. We hope to have Net Poets Society (NetPoSo) back sometime in the near future. They are not to be missed!

Exciting Events at Friendswood Public Library

The Friendswood Public Library will host several exciting cultural events in the coming months!

To help celebrate National Poetry Month, the Friendswood Public Library has invited a talented group of poets called Net Poets Society, or NetPoSo, to read from their acclaimed work on Wednesday, April 20^th at 7pm: 

Erica Lehrer is a poet, award-winning journalist and founding member of Net Poets Society (NetPoSo), a group of poets from Houston, Texas. A graduate of Princeton University (BA, English) and N.Y.U. School of Law, Ms. Lehrer has studied at InPrint, Inc. with poet Dave Parsons and novelist Farnoosh Moshiri.

Mona Follis is a mechanical designer, painter, essayist and poet.  She also designs and sews quilt art, and writes occasional companion poems that echo the quilt, finding the correlation between visual and written art a matter of interwoven expressionism and impressionism.

John Milkereit is a thinker and citizen of the world. Employed as an engineering professional during daylight hours, his first chapbook, Paying Admissions, was published in February 2010.

Other poets include Dede Fox, John E. Rice, and Adamarie Fuller.

 The library is especially pleased to welcome the return of acclaimed classical guitarist Peter Fletcher on Wednesday, May 4^th at 7pm. This is Peter’s third appearance at the Friendswood Public Library. His previous performances have been amongst the most popular programs the library has hosted. Peter Fletcher has performed at prestigious venues across the country including Carnegie Hall.

Come meet award-winning mystery author Bill Crider on Wednesday, June 15^th at 7pm. Bill Crider is the author of the popular Sheriff Dan Rhodes mystery series amongst many other mysteries set in Texas locales. Bill will talk about his experiences as an author and answer your questions.

Come read your own poetry at our Open Mic Poetry Night on Wednesday, July 6^th at 7pm. This event is hosted by Oscar Pena with special guest poets Kay Cox and Barbara Ann Carle. Kay's poems have been published in Sol Magazine, That Thing We Do, Map of Austin and the 2010 Texas Poetry Calendar.  She was the winner of the 2008 Robert Clark Appreciation Award.   Barbara Carle is the author of New York Rhapsody and winner of the 2008 Ted O. Badger Award. Her personal essays have been published in several Chicken Soup books and various anthologies. The Friendswood Public Library hosts Open Mic Poetry events regularly.

For more information, contact the Friendswood Public Library at 281-482-7135.

Several New Poets at Open Mic Poetry Night

Fifteen people braved the wintery weather to come to the Friendswood Public Library and participate in our Open Mic Poetry Night. A special thanks to the always enlightening and entertaining Oscar Pena for hosting this Open Mic event. Our special guest poets also deserve a big thank you for coming out to read from their fabulous books. Rebecca Hatcher Travis read from her award-winning book Picked Apart the Bones and also shared some new poetry concluding with a poem entitled Mother's Milk. Barbara Ann Carle read from her book New York Rhapsody, a wonderful collection of poems capturing the New York City of her youth. Both books are available in the Friendswood Public Library. Oscar Pena's book entitled Fire of Thorns is also available for check out.

It was great to see several new faces sharing their talents at Open Mic night. We had poets from the Houston Heights, Sante Fe, and Galveston all come to share their diverse poetic experiences and perceptions with a very receptive audience. Thanks again to all who came out and made this a special evening!

We look forward to having the poets of Net Poets Society, a Houston based poets group, come and help us celebrate National Poetry Month on Wednesday, April 20th at 7pm. We also plan to have another Open Mic Poetry Event on Wednesday, July 6th at 7pm here in the Friendswood Public Library Activity room.

Cozy Mystery Author Leann Sweeney speaks at Friendswood Public Library

Cozy mystery author Leann Sweeney recently spoke at the Friendswood Public Library to a large group of mystery fans.  Leann’s vibrant stories shed light into the mystery writing process and was great help to many budding writers. The event was a big success and we hope to have Leann back soon to share stories and answer more of those great questions.  Keep an eye out for our March Madness Reading Program when Leann may be a guest speaker.

Open Mic Poetry Night (November 3rd)

Open Mic Poetry Night on November 3rd was a great success. Poet and musician Oscar Pena hosted the event and also read poems from his chapbook, Fire of Thorns. Special guest poets Donna Pauley and Rebecca Travis read from their poetry to a group of twenty plus in attendance. Several poets from the audience got up to read their poems including Barbara Carle who read from her book, New York Rhapsody.  The Friendswood Public Library carries the works of many local/area poets including former Texas Poet Laureate and past speaker at the Friendswood Public Library, Larry Thomas. The library also carries Rebecca Hatcher Travis's Picked Apart the Bones, winner of the First Book Award for Poetry from the Native Writers' Circle of the Americas. Check with the Reference Department for help in finding these local poetry books.

We look forward to our next Open Mic Poetry Night on Wednesday, February 9th at 7pm. Everyone is invited to come and read your own poems or share poetry by other authors. These Open Mic events are a great way for poets of any experience level to meet and talk with people of similar interests. It's also fun to just come and listen! Refreshments are served.

FPL Computer Class tips

The Friendswood Public Library offers beginner computer classes in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; Managing Files and Folders, Internet Searching, Email, and Database Searching. These classes are designed primarily for new users but can also provide helpful tips to the intermediate level user. Computer classes are held every other Thursday evening at 6:30pm and some Monday afternoons at 2pm. Visit the library's Adult Programs Schedule for a more detailed listing of computer classes.

5 tips for enhancing your computer class experience:

1.       Take notes.

2.       Review exercises, notes, and class material within a day or two of taking the class.

3.       Practice the skills you’ve learned frequently.

4.       Slowly add new skills as your comfort increases.

5.       Take the class a second time to ask new questions or absorb additional material.

Van Gogh's Diary

The name Vincent Van Gogh conjures the quintessential image of Romantic artist, sacrificing self in the pursuit of artistic transcendence.  One look at any of Van Gogh’s dozens of self-portraits reveals the man to be serious, intense; maybe daring you to hold his gaze. What does he see in himself that you are also meant to see?  Do you see an injured man; an angry, sad or lonely man?  Some might even see a man injured beyond words or meaning; the vibrancy and color around the eyes to emphasize the total isolation within.

Van Gogh was injured in many ways familiar to us all; unrequited love (at least twice), little respect for his life’s work, and an inability to maintain meaningful relationships (aside from his brother Theo).  But it seems after reading Van Gogh’s diary that his injury, his artist’s burden, goes way beyond the line of duty that most would regard as appropriate.  In July of 1882, Van Gogh writes, “What am I most people’s eyes?  A nonentity, or an eccentric and disagreeable man--- somebody who has no position in society and never will have, in short, the lowest of the low. Very well, even if this were true, then I should want my work to show what is in the heart of such an eccentric, of such a nobody.  This is my ambition, which is, in spite of everything, founded less on anger than on love, more on serenity than on passion.  It is true that I am often in the greatest misery, but still there is a calm pure harmony and music inside me.”

Much of Van Gogh’s writings reveal a man moving through various extremes of feeling, striving to express the things which are intangible in nature and life.  Drawing and painting are revealed to be the one constant which keeps him moving steadily forward. Writing in September of 1882, Van Gogh describes his process of creation, “I see that nature has told me something, has spoken to me, and that I have put it down in shorthand.  In my shorthand there may be words that cannot be deciphered, there may be mistakes or gaps: but there is something of what wood or beach or figure has told me in it, and it is not the tame or conventional language derived from a studied manner or system rather than from nature itself.  It strikes me that Van Gogh believes most profoundly in the “mistakes or gaps” of his work. As he says in July of 1882, “I see drawings and pictures…in the dirtiest corner.  And my mind is drawn toward these things by an irresistible force.“ 

In November of the same year, Van Gogh speaks directly of the isolation of being an artist, “This also is something unbearable for many a painter…One is afraid of making friends, one is afraid of moving; like one of the old lepers, one would like to call from afar to the people: Don’t come too near me, for intercourse with me brings you sorrow and loss.  With all that huge burden of care on one’s heart, one must set to work with a calm everyday face, without moving a muscle, live one’s ordinary life, get along with the models, with the man who comes for the rent---in fact, with everybody…And then storms arise, things one has not foreseen; one doesn’t know what to do, and one has a feeling that one may strike a rock at any moment.”

Reading the words of Van Gogh clearly add to and compliment the great works of this genius artist. And yet, despite all of this explanation and outpouring, the full and abundant meaning of Van Gogh’s work seems to remain a beautiful mystery.  Our increasing knowledge of the heavens does not decrease our wonderment, and so our marvel at Van Gogh’s Starry Night should continue for generations to come.

Van Gogh’s “Diary”: The Artist’s Life in his own Words and Art. Edited by Jan Hulsker

Found in the Friendswood Public Library at 759.949 G613gv